wrestling
Wrestling’s 4R’s PPV Edition 2.21.12: WWE Elimination Chamber 2012
How the 4R’s of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO times a week. We will group our feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and needs discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This is not a “mark” column, nor a “smark” column, our goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. We will not apologize for our opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
REMINDER: This column is finished and submitted before Raw airs.
Let’s rock…
WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2012:
By: LARRY CSONKA
QUICK RESULTS:
* Raw Elimination Chamber WWE Title Match: CM Punk © defeated The Miz, Kofi Kingston, R Truth, Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho @ 32:30 via pin [***½]
* Divas Title Match: Beth Phoenix defeated Tamina Snuka @ 7:15 via pin [**]
* Smackdown Elimination Chamber World Title Match: Daniel Bryan © defeated Santino Marella, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett and Great Khali @ 34:00 via pin [***]
* US Title Match: Jack Swagger © defeated Justin Gabriel @ 3:00 via submission [NR]
* Ambulance Match: John Cena defeated Kane @ 21:00 [**]
Raw Elimination Chamber WWE Title Match: The opening match for the Elimination Chamber PPV was the Raw Chamber match. As a note this made me think that either Kane vs. Cena would main event, or that the Smackdown chamber would and that there would be a surprise. Anyway, the Raw Chamber was a good opening match, and a fine Chamber effort, although not at the level of some of the other very good Chamber matches. I will admit that I was slightly disappointed, due to the level of talent in the match, but in no way as it a bad match. First of all Dolph bumped like a mad man, which I think that mot expected, but damn, that man did his best to make the most of his time in the Chamber. I thought that Kofi also looked good. He is a guy with great athletic ability and that connects with the kids, but needs a lot of repair work done to make his valuable. This was a good performance, and could be the start of that. The Miz got a lot of play in the match, including near falls and a lot of time facing Punk. Unfortunately, due to his booking as of late, the crowd was not taking him all that seriously, and the reactions I felt told that story. Jericho was in pure dick mode in the match, using the pod to try and destroy Punk’s arm, as well as using the old school lion tamer to eliminate Kofi. From there, the way he brutalized Kofi to send him out of the cage, which led to the kick from Punk and Jericho being “knocked out” all worked. After a good series, Punk finally pinned Miz to retain the title, going coast to coast. At the end, Punk goes the distance and looks like a dominant champion, which is always good. But also, with Jericho “not being able to continue,” that gives him a case to say the match was never over, and that since he was never defeated, he deserves a title shot. I liked the booking there, and overall; I felt that this was good stuff.
The Divas Title Match: I felt that going into the match, Beth Phoenix and Tamina had the chance to have a good PPV match, and for the most part they did. It wasn’t great or a classic, but it was laid out well, solidly worked and that is a good thing. Beth is good enough to carry a competent match from most, and while Tamina Snuka is green still (nothing but 1-minute TV matches do not allow you to grow) but she has potential and seems to get it in the ring. She is constantly improving, they did a decent job of building up the Superfly splash, unfortunately when she hit it and Beth kicked out (and later won), they didn’t get the reaction they should have. And that is why this cannot be a right for the show. I would be incomplete here if I didn’t note the fact that they got little to no reaction for the whole match, let alone for what should have been a big moment of the match. I still say that this is an issue in how the ladies are booked. They are given little to no time, they aren’t allowed to build angles and the only angle that is given time is the fact that Natalya has gas. And people wonder why the audience does not care. Add into the fact that Tamina’s push came out of nowhere, with little thought other than “we need a challenger to get us through to WrestleMania,” and that again tells you all you need to know. The match was good, unfortunately the booking constantly lets them down, and then they wonder why the crowds are dead on PPV.
Smackdown Elimination Chamber World Title Match: The Smackdown Elimination Chamber was honestly about what I expected in some ways, but I will also admit that the crowd was not that into it, which was somewhat surprising. It could have been due to the fact that Khali sucks heat and charisma out of a room or the fact that Big Show started the match or even the fact that Wade and Cody are booked like yo-yos these days and aren’t believable in winning the title. Maybe they just wanted to cheer Santino because they like him and he is fun. I am not sure, but they certainly were not into the match as I thought they would be. The match was fine, smart work, some good bumps, and the storytelling was also solid. The best was obviously Show destroying people in an effort to get to Daniel Bryan, and then snapping and breaking into the pod to attempt to kill this man. As it got down to Bryan and Santino, I liked the little things like Bryan acting like the match was now a joke, laughing a bit as he then battled Santino. Some really good little elements in there, but the slow start and soft crowd reaction for a lot of the match did hurt it. Again, I feel that this match is a perfect example of what is wrong with the product. Sure Santino gets a reaction, the people like him, but it just comes off as all wrong. We have a comedy act that is great at what he does. Due to injuries and a roster with little star power he gets into the Chamber match. Not only does he last until the end of the match, but he also gets to pin Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett. People continually tell me how these guys are big stars in the making, and I think that they could be, but not only do they lose every important match they are in, when they get into a match like this, they are pinned by the comic relief. How sad is it that two guys the company has high hopes for are continually booked so poorly that the crowd could not care less and would rather cheer for the lovable comedy act? Yes the match was pretty good, Santino provided some fun moments and we had some great storytelling elements, but I still say that this kind of match shows what is wrong with the product. Pleas be honest and tell me this, what do you honestly do with Santino next? Do you have faith that WWE will actually follow up on the reaction from last night? I don’t think they will.
The Ambulance Match: Closing out the show was the Kane vs. John Cena ambulance match. I will say that there were some positives. First of all it was a solid brawl that didn’t have any of the horrible soap opera shit that we have had to suffer through on the TV. It was two guys going out there and beating the shit out of each other because there is some hate there, which we were supposed to rise above or something. See what I did there? Also there was a decisive finish, nothing the question, which means that we should be able to move on. The bad was there though. I didn’t like this match closing the show. It only closed because they feel Cena is bigger than the titles, and that is obvious. Also, it wasn’t that great a match, and in the main event, you really have to deliver at a certain level, and I just didn’t feel that it did. It felt long, much longer than it actually was, and that is always an issue. Finally, while it was a fine brawl, I just never got into it as I should. I don’t think that Kane got enough in to make us question who would win, and also, I have just watched much better brawls. And this is not some, “back in the day or back in the attitude era” shit, this has nothing to do with PG. The brawl just wasn’t that great. I think they wanted an epic, they had the “drama” spots, they had “the big spot” at the end, but it really felt like just another match. And as the man event, that is never a good feeling to have.
John Laurinaitis Promised Something Big, and All We Did Was Waste PPV Time…: On Saturday, Big Johnny posted the following…
“FYI: I plan to make a HUGE announcement at Elimination #Chamber tomorrow. It might stop the show, and will certainly be a Game changer.”
You know what, I hate this shit. I hate when there are promises of “something big,” and we get nothing. I also hate segments meant for Raw or Smackdown that get added to a PPV. And I especially hate these segments when they add NOTHING to the show. They are doing a set up for the GM’s to battle in some way or form, likely at WM and likely with other wrestlers representing them. This is screaming of, “Oh shit, we have guys and NO IDEA what to do with them” because no one cares who controls Raw and Smackdown. But do you know why this segment was REALLY on PPV? Because WWE could not effectively book the PPV card and fill it enough, so we had this bullshit, on the Road to WrestleMania. Jack Swagger is the US Champion and could have defended his title, but he is never around and no one has been properly booked to challenge him. Until we get fart jokes and a match with a guy that almost never wins, but hey, the product is just fine. We have tag team champions, but they have to viable tag teams to challenge them. The funny thing is that it was reported last week that WWE is worried about the star power of their roster and the fact that they haven’t focused properly on developmental or the mid-card. Welcome to everything I have been saying for YEARS. The funniest thing is that people continually told me I was wrong, but when the news item was posted, everyone acted like they had been saying it for years. For years I have been called a hater, but when people finally realize the truth, they have to act like they have been on it since day one.
US Title Match: WWE obviously did not care about the match, and to tell you the truth, neither did I.
Santino’s Training Segments…: Ok, I will freely admit that I was not a fan of Santino getting the slot in the Chamber match. The battle royal was the biggest jobber-fest I have seen in a long time, and again, that is a statement about the product. But if we were going to have Santino in the Chamber, could we have at least TRIED to make him look like a serious wrestler for one night? Instead of a video package showing that he was serious about the match because this could be his only real chance at a world title, we got more comedy. Comedy is a fine addition to shows at the right time, but it shouldn’t be a big part of a main event match build. WWE’s production team is pretty damn awesome and they had a chance to shine here and maybe even make some people believe. Instead, they just do what they always do, go for the easy laugh. And now this is where I hear about, “I don’t like to have fun” or some stupid shit like that.
More Natalya Fart Jokes: Fuck this company…
| The 411 Let me say this first, I know that A LOT of people enjoyed this show, unfortunately I was not one of them. If this was your kind of show and you were happy you spent money on it, I am very happy for you. I am not one of those people. I am reviewing this as I do every PPV, with my views of the wrestling business, and I have done so for years. For a PPV that is SUPPOSED to be such a big part of the build to WrestleMania, and that cost $45, I was not satisfied at all. I found the action mostly passable with constant issues in the booking that have been there for years, which I have pointed out for years, and will continue to do so. The good was that they didn’t do title changes just to do title changes, I did really like that. There was some good storytelling and booking at times, but unfortunately, I just did not feel that this show delivered for the $45 I spent on it. SHOW RATING: 4.0 As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale.. 0 – 0.9: Torture |
YEAR IN REVIEW (PPV):
TOP PPVs:
* TNA Against All Odds – 6.5
* TNA Genesis – 5.0
* WWE Royal Rumble – 5.0
* WWE Eliminating Chamber – 4.0
TOP PPV MATCHES:
* From TNA Against All Odds – TNA X-Division Title Match: Austin Aries defeated Alex Shelley @ via submission [***¾]
* From TNA Against All Odds – Kazarian defeated AJ Styles @ 18:45 via pin [***½]
* From TNA Genesis – Monster’s Ball Match: Abyss defeated Bully Ray @ 15:28 via pin [***½]
* WWE Elimination Chamber – Raw Elimination Chamber WWE Title Match: CM Punk © defeated The Miz, Kofi Kingston, R Truth, Dolph Ziggler and Chris Jericho @ 32:30 via pin [***½]
What Did You Think About The WWE Elimination Chamber PPV?
What Did You Think About The WWE Elimination Chamber PPV?
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